Innumerable devices have been proposed, over the years, to permit an individual to view images, such as photographs, motion pictures, television and the like. However, most of the prior art viewing devices have been designed for simultaneous viewing by a group of individuals. There have been some prior art devices which were designed for personal viewing by one individual. However, all of the prior art viewing -devices have required the user to wear a helmet or means which mounted on the wearer's ears, like a pair of spectacles, or have required the viewer to look into a viewing means attached to the device, such as the "nickleodeons" which were popular in the early part of this century. Unfortunately, all of the prior art devices have precluded the viewer from seeing a full-of-view as the presented image. In addition, virtually all of the prior art viewing devices have presented images which were external to the viewer's eyes. This greatly limits the type and effectiveness of images which can be presented to the viewer.
A search in the U.S. patent office has revealed the following patents:
______________________________________ U.S. Pat. No. INVENTOR ISSUED ______________________________________ 2,137,887 Fuller, W. W. J. 22 Nov. 1938 2,872,840 Stanton, A. 23 Dec. 1953 2,949,055 Blackstone, H. 9 Jul. 1954 2,955,156 Hellig, M. 24 May 1957 3,059,519 Stanton, A. 5 Sep. 1956 3,142,235 Siegmund, W. 21 Nov. 1960 3,205,303 Bradley, W. 27 Mar. 1961 3,216,778 Davies, G. et al 22 Oct. 1962 3,244,878 Stein, E. 19 Sep. 1963 3,410,638 Langworthy, J. 9 Dec. 1965 3,463,885 Upton, H. W. 26 Aug. 1969 3,529,097 Hoesli, H. 16 Feb. 1967 3,609,016 Jamplosky, A. 30 Dec. 1969 3,670,097 Jones, J. 20 Oct. 1969 4,227,209 Warner, D. 7 Oct. 1980 4,310,849 Glass, S. 11 Jun. 1979 4,322,726 Collier, A. 19 Dec. 1979 4,395,731 Schoolman, A. 16 Oct. 1981 4,403,216 Yokoi, G. 22 Apr. 1981 4,516,157 Campbell, M. 27 Oct. 1983 4,575,722 Anderson, R. 11 Mar. 1986 4,636,866 Hattori, N. 13 Jan. 1987 4,649,434 Weinblatt, L. 10 Mar. 1987 ______________________________________
However, all of the prior art viewing devices form images external to the eye. Consequently, if a viewer blinks or deliberately closes his eyes, he will miss some or all of the image. Furthermore, many of the prior art viewing devices provide a single image which is presented to both of the viewer's eyes. Unfortunately, this prevents stereoscopic viewing and greatly limits the effectiveness of the image presentation. Additionally, many of the prior art viewing devices employ spectacle-type means for supporting the viewing device in front of the viewer's eyes. However, with this type of device, the viewer is always aware of the presence of the device and his peripheral vision will admit a ring of light about the edge of the viewing device which can cause considerable distraction from the presented image.